Nannini and Peggs take third with Financial Crisis; Cessna Citation takes fourth

At 08:37:20 GMT on Saturday 5 November, Marco Nannini and Paul Peggs took third place in Leg 1 of the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race (GOR) on their first generation Akilaria, Financial Crisis, completing the podium behind Leg 1 winners, Ross and Campbell Field from New Zealand on BSL and second place Class40 Campagne de France of the Franco-British duo Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron. The Italian-British duo on Financial Crisis completed the 7,000 mile opening leg of the GOR circumnavigation in just under 41 days, scoring a total of 23 points for Leg 1.

In 12-14 knots of breeze, a long, rolling five metre swell and bright sunshine, Nannini and Peggs reached close inshore, sailing under Lionshead Point and Signal Hill to the finish line off the breakwater in Cape Town. Just under three hours later at 11:26:15 GMT, the New Zealand-Spanish duo of Conrad Colman and Hugo Ramon finished in fourth place with their Akilaria RC2, Cessna Citation after the final days of intensely hard racing between the two Class40s.

For Nannini and Peggs, arriving on the Leg 1 podium was a surprise: “It’s absolutely fantastic,” said Marco Nannini as Financial Crisis circled off Cape Town harbour having crossed the finish line. “We didn’t expect to take third place and we had to work very hard for it as Conrad and Hugo really weren’t going to let it go, so it’s been a really tough, final few days.” Having dropped to fourth place, Cessna Citation pushed hard, chasing Nannini and Peggs with both boats sustained breakages due to the increased pressure. “We completely trashed the A6 last night,” confirms Paul Peggs and the demise of their spinnaker began a spiral of breakages. “The runner block blew up simultaneously and we then broke the pulpit,” he continues, pointing to the twisted stainless steel at the bow. “It all happened in darkness, so we’ll have to have a good look and see what the damage is.”

With a very tight budget for their GOR campaign, both Nannini and Peggs are aware that any major damage could end the circumnavigation for Financial Crisis: “Surfing down the waves with the speedo reading over 22 knots is really very fast for this boat,” Nannini explains. “In the past few nights we were hitting 17 or 18 knots with just the mainsail and Solent and it’s right on the risk limit,” he continues. “You don’t win a race by going balls-out and racing the boat close to the edge,” the Italian skipper maintains. “You win by going the right way and that’s how we plan to hold on to third place for the rest of the circumnavigation.”